Avebury gets double yellowed

Submitted by Vicky on Friday, 20 June 2003 Page Views: 1498

The tiny Wiltshire village of Avebury, the only one in the country built within a prehistoric stone circle, has drawn thousands of metres of lines, a blizzard of double yellow lines along both sides of every narrow road in the village, looping around the minute triangle of green, heading down the lane that leads to the Ridgeway, the track believed to be one of the oldest roads in the country reports Maev Kennedy of the Guardian. The villagers contributed £500 towards the work, and believe it will protect them this weekend from the chaos last year, when hundreds of cars and vans parked all over the village, having moved on from the sunrise celebrations at Stonehenge.

The problems the villagers dread are likely to start today and be over by Sunday, but the yellow lines will be permanent.

The circle of vast stones at Stonehenge, and Avebury, whose towering ramparts of chalk ditches are among the largest man-made monuments in Britain, are 5,000 years old, and part of the same world heritage site.

Some are appalled at the visual impact on a unique site. Kate Fielden, secretary of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society, described yellow lining to prohibit parking without making any extra legitimate arrangements as "a head-in-the-sand situation".

"The yellow lines might even add to the practical problems experienced during the one or two midsummer days of the solstice period. Then and for the rest of the year, they will certainly detract from the visual experience of very many visitors who feel that this is a special place which is, and should remain, the heart of rural England."

Jenny Baldrey, chairman of the Avebury parish council, which campaigned for the yellow lines and raised the villagers' share of the cost, said: "If you go to any honeypot village in the country, if you go to Cornwall, or Godshill on the Isle of Wight, you will see double yellow lines."

"It is a shame, because this is turning into fortress Avebury. Looking out of my window I can see a chain across the entrance to the playing fields, and the Avebury Working Men's club is already locked off, there's a temporary fence on one bit of open land, and the National Trust has put down thousands of wooden posts to stop people parking on the verges."

Although the situation has calmed down dramatically since the near riot at Stonehenge in 1999, when thousands of revellers clashed with heavy handed security, the fence was torn down and children were trampled underfoot in skirmishes in the road, the summer solstice is still the high point of the alternative society summer season. It attracts huge crowds; an improbable and occasionally volatile mix of druids, pagans, new-age travellers, ravers, and the merely curious.

English Heritage has announced that there will be free, open access to Stonehenge from 2am tomorrow, with free parking from midnight tonight. The last admission will be at 11am tomorrow, and all visitors must leave by 2pm - in previous years the site was cleared at breakfast time.

Fires and fireworks, climbing on the stones, amplified music, dogs and glass bottles will be prohibited, but "small amounts of alcohol for personal use" will be allowed.

Source: The Guardian 20/06/03

Contributor Bio for Vicky: Ex Megalithic Portal Editor, Co-author of 'Rock Around the Peak - Megalithic Monuments of the Peak District' and... More

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